Leaving for New York with a scholarship from the University. This is what Valerio Di Mascio, a LUISS graduate in Law, is about to do, with the support of Professor Illuminati, his supervisor.
Valerio, who hails from Pescara, decided to enroll at LUISS after reading a newspaper article talking about the upcoming admission test: "I saw it and said to myself: why don’t I give it a try?".
Valerio has never regretted his decision and earned his degree in 2012. When we ask him what LUISS offered that other universities didn’t, he replies, "the faculty boasts a lot of illustrious names in the academic world, and that must have a positive impact on its students’ education."
In his case, the University’s international outlook, as well as the quality of its professors, convinced him even more of the importance of studying abroad: "In the vast majority of job interviews that I did, one of the first questions was always: "Have you studied abroad?" I can’t say they’re wrong: aside from academic preparation that transcends national borders to a greater ease with speaking foreign languages, it develops excellent interpersonal skills.” Because of this, Valerio decided to spend a semester studying in Singapore. Then he got his degree. What to do afterwards? "U.S. law has always fascinated me,” recounts Valerio, “and before throwing myself into the world of work for good, I decided to treat myself to an academic experience that would surely leave an indelible mark on my educational journey."
For this reason, he applied to various American universities. He got into nearly all of them, but his first choice was Columbia Law School in New York, "the best one for company law and financial markets law, the areas that I was most interested in."
He has already been to the Big Apple but "you need to live there to really get to know one of the most intellectually stimulating cities in the world, the crossroads of a hundred different cultures, where you have the impression that the whole world is concentrated in one big city."
So it was a big thrill to get the long-awaited news that he had been admitted to Columbia, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, as well as an American Ivy League school: "I was sitting around one humid afternoon studying a rather boring opposition to a court order, and all of a sudden an email popped up from Columbia, telling me that I had been accepted and how impressed they were with my application. What can I say? I’ll remember that court order for the rest of my life!"
He then applied for the scholarship that LUISS offers each year to its graduates for post-graduate study and won it. With these two great announcements and the hopes of being able to realize his dream of working in an international firm, Valerio is getting ready for a summer studying and an experience that will certainly be unforgettable. His suitcase for New York is already packed. We wish him a good trip!